A property developer is attempting to sell a former courthouse for £275,000 – two years after snapping it up for just £75,000.

Businessman Oliver Ansbro confessed he was “very jammy” to pick up the former Kirkcudbright Sheriff Court for a cut price in February 2016.

Despite doing nothing to develop the building, Ansbro hopes to make at least a £200,000 profit on his investment.

But the original sell-off by the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS) has been criticised for failing to get the best deal for the taxpayer.

Cell in courthouse (Image: DREW GEDDES)

The property was originally on the market for £275,000. SCTS bosses accepted Ansbro’s low offer after he was the only person to submit a bid.

He said: “I put in an offer and it was accepted. I think it’s very jammy. They obviously needed the cash.

“I was surprised at how cheap I was able to get it. If it sells for what it’s up for, then I’m looking at a good profit on it.”

Ansbro – who runs Castle Douglas-based property firm Redstone Estate Ltd – admitted he has not spent any cash developing the building. He has only forked out for general maintenance work and tackling damp.

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He added: “I think it’s worth £275,000 but it’s a limited market to the type of person that’s going to come in and develop it.

“Development finance is quite tricky and expensive. Pre-financial crisis, banks would look at developing a project like this and you could take a loan at four per cent. But now it’s 10 per cent. And as a developer, you’re taking all the risk.

“If it doesn’t sell, in five or six years, if the markets improve and I’m able to get finance, I’d love to do the project myself.”

The building first opened in 1814 to act as the town’s prison and served as Kirkcudbright Sheriff Court from the end of the 19th century.

It has remained empty since it was one of 10 courthouses across Scotland to be controversially closed in 2013. The SCTS received £54,000 from the £75,000 sale. The remaining £21,000 went to Dumfries and Galloway Council, who owned a library within the premises.

The Scottish Government’s decision to shut the court and offload the building has been criticised for selling the taxpayer short.

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Scottish Conservative justice spokesman Liam Kerr said: “The SNP’s mass closure of sheriff courts was a mistake on a number of levels. Now we learn the plan was so poorly thought through that the taxpayer could be losing out on hundreds of thousands of pounds.

“It’s no wonder the purchaser in his incident regards himself as ‘very jammy’.”

The SCTS denied they had sold off Kirkcudbright Sheriff Court too cheaply.

A spokesman said: “The former courthouse in Kirkcudbright was professionally marketed by the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service’s property management agents for two years in three separate campaigns.

“Only one offer was received and no interest was expressed by community organisations to take over the building.

“The decision was taken to accept the offer as the only one available and is in line with Scottish Government guidelines on the disposal of surplus assets.